Did your system getting better the more money you spent or more experience you gained?

@ddgtt +1 that saved me years and thousands. 

Kinda both, but there is no doubt that experience guided my investments and the info shared in forums like this has saved me thousands. Shouting out also To Paul at PS Audio for consistently answering a wide range of good questions.

I decided to build a couple systems about five years ago and my main rig has consistently improved since then based on good info gained over time. Building around the same Class A/B/A+B pro audio amp I upgraded main speakers, added a sub, did a complete cable swap, cleaned up the input with a WiFi streamer and adjusted input gain to the point where $5k hard cost sounds like $50k to me LOL

@calvinj

I think I’m at a point where I’m good. Changing one thing can screw up my entire chain and sound now!

That’s a very good sign. I got there at my previous residence, at least in terms of setting up the equipment I tried. I’ll never know if other components I didn’t try might have done something even better but I was having a great time with what I had. The thing was, there was a LOT of digital settings involved and I was worried about accidentally messing it up, which happened sometimes, causing me to carefully and nervously go over everything to figure out what happened. That’s the good thing about using components that just sound the way you want without any special settings required.

My setup at my new house is quite a bit different, but still has a LOT of settings I have to make sure stay put. Fortunately there is no longer a front control panel that I or a toddler nephew can mess with and inadvertently screw things up.

@mahgister

I’m with you on the crosstalk reduction. I haven’t heard BACCH, but I’ve set up the physical crosstalk barriers and had my mind blown, and now I’m using my own 3 speaker array method to deal with comb filtering caused by interaural crosstalk. This is my main area of audiophile interest now. Interaural crosstalk is the 600lb gorilla in the room to my ears. 2 speakers playing across your head without some kind of electronic or physical hardware to reduce crosstalk is a seriously compromised setup for anything other than sounds panned hard left to one speaker or the other, and I don’t think there’s any way to correct it with recording methods or mixing/mastering - unless some kind of crosstalk reduction is mixed into the recording - which means it’ll only work in very specific listening configurations. Multi-channel recordings with 5.1 or 7.1 setups bring their own headaches, although I think those could be solved with a specially designed room, but only if the people who mix the recordings properly take advantage of what’s there. I know that many feel it’s a non-issue. Hence, Sonus Faber just put out a 2 channel speaker system for $750,000. You wouldn’t put that much into a system if you thought it was inherently flawed, I wouldn’t think.

Thanks for your confirmative experience about crosstalk universal obstructive effect...

Most people have no idea how and why all stereo systems are flawed...

And Speakers sellers wont say it guess why ?

😊

Add to crosstalk destructive effect , no vibrations/resonance controls, no electrical grid noise floor control and no dedicated acoustic room...

Buying costly dac or a costlier turntable will not solve all these problems repeating the false mantra that the source is everything.

What is the source ? Not the dac nor the turntable but the specific recording trade-off choices process we must translate with our speakers/room/ears...

What make this acoustic translation from the recording SOURCE process difficult ?

Crosstalk in any stereo system and lack of electrical,mechanical and acoustical controls.. ( i called them embeddings controls because i used many homemade devices embedded in these working mechanical,electrical and acoustical working dimensions)

Many people dont even know what is the source of information they think it is their dac... 😁

The primary source are the choices of the recording engineer in each albums different form, which must be acoustically translated and delivered by your speakers/room/ears... Your system convey this acoustic information and impede or/and help it in many ways thats all ...

The source is the acoustic information chosen and related to the recording process and this is this SOURCE which we are pleased to listen to and experience with our system/room/ears ...The dac is like a cable or an amplifier a way to convey, more or less well , this acoustic chosen set of trade off choices by the recording engineer which are this specific album source ...

The source of my life is not ONLY my actual body but FIRST my parents bodies encounter and genetic trade-off so to speak...

In audio people dont think this way about the source because their focus is on the gear possible next upgrade not on acoustics nor about embeddings controls to recreate the acoustic source : the acoustic specific atmosphere of each album...

They think that a piece of gear create the sound... 😁😊

A piece of gear contribute thats all... The sound acoustic information exist already in each album then how can my speakers/room/ears can translate it in the best way ? A change of cable or dac will help or not but could hardly be the solution about an acoustic problem ...

I like your three speakers idea and creativity... Congratulations...

@mahgister

I’m with you on the crosstalk reduction. I haven’t heard BACCH, but I’ve set up the physical crosstalk barriers and had my mind blown, and now I’m using my own 3 speaker array method to deal with comb filtering caused by interaural crosstalk. This is my main area of audiophile interest now. Interaural crosstalk is the 600lb gorilla in the room to my ears. 2 speakers playing across your head is a seriously compromised setup for anything other than sounds panned hard left to one speaker or the other, and I don’t think there’s any way to correct it with recording methods or mixing/mastering - unless some kind of crosstalk reduction is mixed into the recording - which means it’ll only work in very specific listening configurations. Multi-channel recordings with 5.1 or 7.1 setups bring their own headaches, although I think those could be solved with a specially designed room, but only if the people who mix the recordings properly take advantage of what’s there. I know that many feel it’s a non-issue. Hence, Sonus Faber just put out a 2 channel speaker system for $750,000. You wouldn’t put that much into a system if you thought it was inherently flawed, I wouldn’t think

Definitely more experience. The more experience I gained, the better able I was to sift through the hype and get to real quality. When I started out 50+ years ago, I made some really stupid errors. I can't say that now, my moves are perfect, but I haven't bought any really lousy gear in a long, long time.